The Thoughtless Future: Coming to a United States near you?

If you read the stories yesterday or happened to catch them today, you may have noticed reading scores among U.S. 4^thgrade and 8^th grade students declined on the latest exam given by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Results from the test, given in 2024, show 30% of 8^th grade students scored at or above as proficient in reading, while 31% of 4^th grade students did so. 

The news reminded me of a column I wrote over 15 years ago for News & Tech magazine. The column is reprinted below. Permission was sought and granted by the magazine’s former CEO, Mary Van Meter. The magazine has since closed.

There are some recent literacy statistics available. But they’re not backed up, at least on the website, with any evidence. I’ve reached out to the person connected with the website and hope to report more on this soon. There’s another study, too, but the information is at least 10 years old.  

 

Thank you for reading.

 

 

After great pain, a formal feeling comes

 

 

After great pain, a formal feeling comes

The nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs

The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,

And Yesterday, or Centuries before?

 

The Feet, mechanical, go round

Of Ground, or Air, or Ought

A Wooden way

Regardless grown,

A Quartz contentment, like a stone

 

This is the Hour of Lead

Remembered, if outlived,

As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow

First – Chill – Then Stupor – then the letting go

 

~ Emily Dickinson, 1862

 

 

The Thoughtless Future: Coming to a United States near you?

 

By DOUG PAGE 

 

Master the poem on this page in one of Mark Bauerlein’s Emory University English classes, and you’ll likely find yourself in a minority – one of just 13% of American adults rated as “proficient” in reading.

 

If you comprehend this poem, then it’s more likely you’ll be inquisitive and, as a result, read books, magazines, hold a top-paying job, be an active citizen, and, if the newspaper industry is lucky, read a paper every day.

 

But the conundrum facing the American newspaper industry is that the audience that should buy a paper is shrinking.

 

According to the most recent adult literacy study – conducted by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Adult Literacy – the percentage of adults holding proficient literacy skills, meaning they comprehend anything they read, fell from 15% to 13% between 1992 and 2003 while the percentage of adults considered illiterate or showing difficulty understanding what they read increased from 42% to 43%.

 

In other words, out of 225 million U.S. adults, only 29 million are proficient readers while 96 million are “below basic” or “basic” readers, says the NAAL.

 

It’s no better when studying U.S. high school students. According to research from the National Endowment of the Arts, the percentage of high school students judged as proficient readers dropped from 40% to 35% between 1992 and 2005.

 

This downward trend, says the NEA, is showing up in the labor force, with 81% of employers reporting high school graduates lacking basic writing skills and 28% of employers reporting their four-year college graduates often have the same problem.

 

Post-literate society

 

There’s concern that the United States is in the fast lane to the post-literate era. What’s this mean? According to the experts, video will supplant reading as the dominant medium from which people will consume information. And that will happen by mid-century.

 

Reading, if it’s around, may be considered a peculiar habit of the aged, educated and society’s few concerned citizens, says University of Toronto lecturer Mark Federman.

 

There’s a chance, in this pending post-literate era, that not only will language skills continue to slide but so will the ability to master complex topics, dense prose, a foreign language or anything requiring critical thinking skills.

 

This means that the capability to evaluate evidence, create or diffuse an intricate, multifaceted argument, assess right from wrong, or understand ideas regardless of their discipline could be seriously compromised.

 

What this outcome holds for society at large is anyone’s guess. But there’s a reason to be nervous.

 

“Being raised in a literate tradition means learning how to think about things that are complicated and important,” said retired Brown University History & Education Professor Carl Kaestle. “If you’re able to keep 20 or 30 variables in your mind and consider other people’s welfare as well as your own, then you’re able to think critically about a complicated matter, like health care reform.

 

“If you look at the power elite, they know how to read books, analyze dense prose and produce lengthy reports,” he added.

 

Distinguishing knowledge from info

 

Christine Rosen, senior editor at technology journal The New Atlantis, fears that literacy’s decline will affect future generations’ ability to distinguish knowledge from information.

 

“Google is the perfect example of this,” said. “You glean information from millions of sources. What it cannot do is apply critical judgement to what is true and false and what is worth knowing. 

 

“It simply adds more factoids,” she continued.

 

“I think it’s key for journalists to be interested in school literacy programs,” said Saint Michaels University Journalism Professor David T. Z. Mindich, author of the book Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don’t Follow the News.

 

To build the daily newspaper-reading habit, Mindich hosts lunches with college students to talk about current events.

 

“People bring a copy of their paper, and you get a surprisingly informed group of students,” he said. “Young people talk with each other and the conversation often drives consumption of the news.”

 

What relevance does Emily Dickinson have in a trade magazine? In a nutshell, literature illustrates not only the human condition but also the condition of an industry, and that’s the key task of any trade publication.

 

Her “main focus is the numb feeling that follows trauma of some kind,” said Professor Bauerlein, author of The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future.

 

“She doesn’t detail the experience but only how her heart shuts down. Life from then on is ‘mechanical,’ just a sequence of moments with no climaxes and no goals.”

 

What better way to describe a future that should be feared, one without books or newspapers and a society inexorably incapable of thoughtful contemplation.

 

 

Editor’s Note: The column was originally published in the December 2009 edition of News & Tech magazine, a newspaper trade book, which has since closed. Permission to reprint my column was provided by former News & Tech publisher (and United Press International colleague) Mary Van Meter, who, like her editor, Chuck Moozakis, always encouraged me to write about topics our trade magazine competitor, Editor & Publisher, rarely, if ever, covered. 

Belittled and Betrayed

The problem with big business and other institutions, whether large, small, multinational or local, is the people running them. Too often, they speak out of both sides of their mouths and then are utterly gobsmacked when hit with evidence that few trust them.

 “Ninety percent of business executives think customers highly trust their companies … only 30% of consumers actually do. That gap of 60 percentage points is greater than the 57 points we saw in both 2023 and 2022,” says a recent report from PwC, a management consultancy.

 

While I can’t speak for every reason customers’ faith in companies dwindles, part of it must be the fact that there’s little authentic communication. Every organization, or nearly every organization, is armed up with a battery of attorneys and a team of communications experts, which seems ambiguous since I’m hard-pressed to know what a “communications expert” is. 

To make sure the official utterances are mealymouthed? 

 

Perhaps.

 

My most recent experience was with Hilton Hotels. At one of their locations everything that could go wrong went wrong. The heat didn’t work in two of their rooms and, at one point, when walking to the front desk to change rooms for the third time, a mouse skedaddled in front of me – and that was near an area where guests can buy food.

 

To rectify the problems, I wrote what I thought was a very diplomatic yet direct letter to the CEO, Christopher Nassetta, suggesting he investigate this location because the building was iconic and could serve the brand well, perhaps even enhance its reputation, to use some “communications speak,” as those “experts” in corporate communications might call it. 

 

Here’s my letter:

 

December 2, 2024

 

                                                                        

Mr. Christopher J. Nassetta

President & Chief Executive Officer

Hilton Hotels & Resorts

7930 Jones Branch Dr.

McLean, VA 22102-3388

 

Dear Mr. Nassetta:

 

First paragraph removed for this version.

 

I’ve stayed there many times, and this previous time, on Monday, Nov. 25th, was the last.

 

I was originally checked into Room 177 and noticed the heat didn’t work. I was then sent to room 294, where the heat did work, but there was a problem with the door. The system that allows the card key to unlock the door needed to be repaired. The engineer wasn’t sure how long it would take, so rather than become a prisoner in my own room, I asked to be and was transferred to room 290, where the heat also didn’t work. Instead of complaining, I remained in the room because, by that time, it was around 11 p.m., and I had an early start the following morning.

 

And, if that wasn’t bad enough, at one point that night, while walking to the front desk to get another room, I spotted a mouse scrambling across the corridor near the hotel’s convenience store, where food is displayed.

 

This isn’t the first time I’ve had an issue with the heat at this hotel. It’s happened with other rooms in other parts of the building, too, and every time I’ve transferred to another room. 

 

The staff was very kind and amenable, but it’s the last time I’ll stay there. At the Marriott hotels in the area this has never happened. 

 

I strongly urge you to visit this location. You’ll notice a building that’s an architectural gem but requiring work. Lots of work! It could serve your company so much better if someone would improve it. The rooms are okay but often the furniture and the bathrooms are scratched. The same goes for the elevators. 

 

In all the time I’ve been going there, over the last five years, the people have been fabulous, from the front desk to those in the dining room and at the bar. They, too, would be better served with an improved building.

 

I take no joy in writing this letter. I retain fond memories of Hilton, having stayed at many of your locations around the United States during my business travels and, during my youth, in Europe as well as at one of your other iconic locations, now since gone, in Hong Kong.

 

For the sake of your company’s reputation, correct the problems.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Doug Page 

 

Here’s the company’s first response via email from the address guest.correspondence@hilton.com.

 

Hi DOUG,

 

Thank you for contacting Hilton Guest Assistance regarding your recent experience at one of our properties. Guest inquiries and feedback are important and valuable to us. A case has been created for you and forwarded over to the hotel’s management team for review. Please allow 3 days for follow-up.

 

We appreciate you choosing Hilton hotel brands for this stay and hope we will be your first choice for your future travel needs.

 

As seems to be with the case with much correspondence between companies and their customers, the email was unsigned. Was it written by an actual human being or was it generated by that funky new thing called AI?

 

It’s a mystery.

 

Two days later, another email arrived, with the subject line “Your Scanned Document,” likely after someone – other than the recipient – read it. Here it is:

 

Hi Doug,

 

I am truly sorry to hear about your experiences ... I understand how frustrating it must have been to change rooms and still not have the problem resolved.

 

To make it right, I can issue a refund for your stay. Please reply to this email and let me know if this is acceptable.

 

We value your feedback and are committed to improving our services. If there is anything else we can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to let us know.

 

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, [sic] and thank you for your loyalty as a Silver Hilton Honors Member.

 

Best Regards,  

 

Chari Huntzberry

 

As much as I sensed Chari wanted to do the right thing, receiving a letter from the CEO would have been better. Such a note would convey that Mr. Nassetta cares enough about his customers to take time from his busy day to communicate with them and commit to correcting the location’s problems. 

 

Allowing Chari, who’s likely far removed from the CEO suite, to handle the issue, gives off many impressions: First, Nassetta never read the letter; second, he doesn’t care about customer problems; third, he’s under the impression that all’s well at that particular location – when it isn’t! 

 

Is it any mystery why customers don’t trust the companies? Their complaints never reach the top. 

 

The refund was slightly over $100.00, and I accepted it. 

 

I compare this experience to that of my father, Robert Page, during his days as the CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times. Nearly 40 years ago, one of the newspaper’s columnists, Vernon Jarrett, caused quite a hullabaloo, when he dared to suggest that since the mayor, Harold Washington, who died unexpectedly the day before Thanksgiving, on Nov. 25, 1987, was a black man, he should be replaced by another black man. 

 

How radical!?

 

Dad’s office was flooded with letters, with many of the writers calling for Jarrett’s head. I read a few of them and some of Dad’s responses, too. One stands out: It was to a dentist in Peoria, Ill. Like many of the writers, he demanded Jarrett be terminated.

 

“I’d hate to be the next black man to come to you to get a tooth pulled,” Dad replied, going onto say Jarrett wasn’t about to be fired.

 

The dentist likely didn’t appreciate Dad’s response, but at least he received a reply from whom he wrote.

 

CEO engagement with customers, The Harvard Business Review discussed two years ago, “is a strategic opportunity for the company to reinforce marketing messages and the company’s unique value proposition in the marketplace. Such a culture of commitment, driven publicly by the CEO, is crucial for the next few years, given the unsettling trend of customer satisfaction being in steep decline.”

 

In other words, the company’s best customer service representative is the CEO.

 

By directly engaging with customers, they show the company gives a damn – and the problems will be fixed. They’re the company’s flag bearers and put the organization’s credibility on the line anytime they interact with clients and consumers. 

 

But too often no one’s home. I’ve emailed Mark Zuckerberg with questions about Facebook's advertising policies and never received a response. 

 

Say what you will about Elon Musk, perhaps Jeff Bezos, too, but at least they engage with customers from time to time. That likely explains some of their success.

 

Take note, Mr. Nassetta … and others, too.